Yes, after five years and exactly 20,548 units built - composed of 19,523 saloons and 1025 examples of the M5 Touring - production of the E60 M5 has officially ended this week.

The outgoing M5 holds something of a record for BMW, being the best selling M5 ever - despite being on sale for a year less than the E39 M5 that it replaced.

The good majority of M5s were snapped up in the US, American buyers taking home a full 8800 units.

Great Britain and Ireland claimed 1776 examples, and BMW's home market of Germany followed with 1647 units. Japan wasn't far behind, with 1357 sales, and Italian enthusiasts claimed 512 units.

In Australia, M5 fans took home 339 examples. Sales were strongest in the E60 M5's launch year of 2005, with 120 sales.

So far in 2010, with the new 5 Series on hand and the F10 M5 not far away, canny shoppers have held back and just 1 E60 M5 has been sold this year.

With the 2011 M5 around the corner, the E60 M5's 373kW V10 heart is set to be retired in favour of BMW's 4.4 litre V8 (currently serving in the X5 M and X6 M).

Technical details for the new M5's engine have yet to be revealed, but reports out of Europe suggest its output will be boosted from 420kW and 680Nm of torque to around 430kW and 720Nm - matching the current Audi RS6 and bettering its torque figures.

While a six-speed manual transmission is likely to remain an option, a revised version of the M-DCT dual clutch transmission utilised in the current M3 is expected to be the new M5's standard transmission.